Illinois' Weber benches 3 starters vs. Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Illinois coach Bruce Weber decided to remove three of his best players from the starting lineup for Thursday night's game against Minnesota.

Demetri McCamey, Jereme Richardson and Mike Tisdale were taken out of the starting lineup for the game. That's three of the Illinois' top four scorers.

An Illini spokesman said the decision was not a punishment or related to injuries. He said Weber was just trying to mix things up to give the struggling Illini a spark. Illinois has lost three of its last four games.

The biggest surprise was McCamey. He leads the team at 14.7 points per game and is seventh in the nation with 6.7 assists. He is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation's top point guard.